


Without Worries There's No Pain

by angstysilver



Series: Through the Clouds I See Love Shine [5]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Implied Mpreg, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-20
Updated: 2019-09-20
Packaged: 2020-10-24 20:03:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20711738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angstysilver/pseuds/angstysilver
Summary: A smile tugs at his own lips.  This is the life he has always wanted to give his children.





	Without Worries There's No Pain

**Author's Note:**

> This is set in summer 1997. Their children are 6 and 4.
> 
> The title is from *NSYNC's "You Got It" (1997).
> 
> I don't own these characters and this was written just for fun.

There are bikes in the driveway when Billy tries to pull his truck in - the bright blue and pale pink bikes are both on their sides and a smaller red one is stood upright on its training wheels. Normally, Billy would feel at least a small tug of annoyance. He really had told the kids close to a million times not to leave their bikes in the driveway. One day he really is going to accidentally run them over and then have to deal with the waterworks that would inevitably immediately follow the event. Typically, he’d find the kids and insist that they move their bikes, allowing some of the irritation to bleed into his tone, and they’d pout but dutifully go do as they were told. But, it’d been a nice slow Saturday at the garage and Billy had been more than happy to knock off early, leaving Tony, in charge for the rest of the day. 

So, given his mood, Billy just climbs out of his truck and wheels the little bikes over to the front lawn before pulling in next to Steve’s small Dadsmobile SUV. The laughter of little voices and the rhythmic squeak of the trampoline drift over from the back yard. Based on the pink bike, Billy assumes that Jake, Jo, and her best friend, Kayla Greene, are out back bouncing themselves silly. He smiles. One day Steve will admit that the trampoline was a great investment and that there haven’t been any major injuries, despite his concern. Knock wood.

The kids better enjoy it while they can; dark clouds are rolling in to cover the blue of the late afternoon sky when Billy shuts the front door behind himself. Steve is humming loudly from the back of the house and Billy follows the sound to find his husband frosting cupcakes. There never really needs to be a reason for Steve to be making cupcakes. It’s a wonder they aren’t all big as houses. 

Leaning against the doorway, Billy takes a moment to just enjoy the view. Steve is wearing khaki shorts, just tight enough to have Billy’s eyes lingering on his ass and hips. They’ve spread slightly from his two pregnancies and Billy wonders if it’s weird that he finds that so hot. His patterned t-shirt is tucked neatly into his waistband. And while Billy has opted to keep his hair short, Steve let his thick hair grow out from his latest cut and it’s long enough to brush his shoulders and for Jo to style when the mood strikes her. A battered pair of boat shoes and socks complete the look. Billy would roll his eyes at the preppiness that seems to be ingrained in Steve’s very DNA but Billy’s so used to it that he doesn’t even bother to offense at it anymore. And honestly? It kind of settles him to see how much Steve hasn’t changed in the twelve years they’ve been together.

He stalks silently across the room and plasters himself against Steve’s back, shoving his face in the crook of his neck. As predicted, Steve startles and gasps in his arms, squeezing the piping bag tightly enough to send a squirt of blue frosting onto the countertop. 

“Damnit, Billy,” he grumbles, but the sentiment is lost when he snuggles back into Billy’s embrace.

Billy chuckles and breathes in Steve’s scent. He smells like vanilla and lemon zest and home and Billy noses away some of his hair to press a kiss to the base of his neck. Steve sighs and lets Billy take more of his weight. Billy urges him to turn around to face him. He slides his hands to Steve’s hips as the other man’s arms drape around his neck almost on instinct. What begins as a sweet press of their lips quickly deepens into something that has Billy groaning lowly and tightening his grip.

Steve pulls away just enough to gasp a few unsteady breaths against Billy’s lips and press their foreheads together. “We gotta stop. The kids are right outside.”

Billy knows that and can’t really argue with it. Jo and Jake are still pretty young to be scarred for life by their parents. He’ll save that for when they’re in their teen years. But knowing that they need to cool off doesn’t stop him from giving Steve’s ass a firm squeeze and winking a promise for later before pulling away. 

He heads over to sliding glass door of the dining room so he can check on the kids. Jake is in the middle of the trampoline with his arms wrapped around his legs, making his body as small as possible. Jo and Kayla bounce around the perimeter, causing Jake to rebound into the air just high enough to make Billy glad that Steve isn’t watching. They’re clearly having a good time, if the wide smiles on their faces are any indication. A smile tugs at his own lips. This is the life he has always wanted to give his children.

“Oh shit, it’s about to pour,” Steve comments from behind him. And sure enough, there’s a loud crack of thunder that startles the kids. They all turn wide eyes to the darkened sky asJake’s face crumbles and he starts to cry. Steve slides open the door and calls out to them. “Alright, get your butts in here. There’s a storm coming.”

But before they can react to his instruction, the sky opens up and the first waves of the summer rain storm start pelting down on them. The girls instantly shriek and Kayla ducks under her arms as if that would protect her beaded braids from the rain. The girls hop down and start dashing towards the door as if they can dodge the drops if they move frantically enough.

“Hey, hey, hey!” Steve claps his hands to get their attention. “Go get your brother.”

Jo and Kayla stop in their tracks and turn back to fetch Jake, who’s still curled up on the trampoline, face scrunched up and rain drops now mixing with the tears on his round cheeks. Instead of helping him down like normal people, each girls grabs the little boy under his arms and hauls him up, half-dragging him to the house that way. Steve huffs in exasperation and Billy does nothing to hide his amusement.

Jo and Kayla are dutifully dramatic about getting caught in the rain, each of them fretting about their hair and clothes. Steve wraps them both in towels and ushers them upstairs to. Luckily, the girls spend enough time at each other’s houses to have spare clothes available for times like these. 

Jake, still shaken up by the experience, presses his face against Billy’s jean-clad leg. Billy scoops him up, marvelling at the fact that he seems heavier every time he does it. “You’re okay, bud. It’s just thunder. It won’t hurt you.”

Jake looks unconvinced. “It was loud, Pop.” His big brown eyes are wet when they blink up at Billy and Billy’s heart melts a little bit at how much like Steve he looks, even with his mess of puffy dark blonde hair.

“I know, Jakey. Why don’t we get you some dry clothes, too?”

Jake nods and presses his face to Billy’s shoulder for the ride up to his room. Sometimes, the blind trust that Jo and Jake put in him still leaves him completely floored. He can’t imagine what he’s ever done to make himself worthy of such confidence. Joyce always says that kids usually have some pretty good instincts but Billy wonders about that because his kids can’t seem to sense his flaws at all. They always look at him like he’s the biggest and best thing they’ve ever seen and they cling to him like it’s a given that he will protect them from the horrors of the world. They aren’t wrong, it’s just that Billy spent so much of his life believing that he is the horror from which they would need protecting. Steve tells him it’s a lot to unlearn about himself and that he needs to be patient with himself. But Steve has the patience of a saint and Billy is...Billy.

Billy gets his son changed into dry jeans and a Rugrats t-shirt and settles him on the sofa with Kayla and Jo to watch television. The girls have almost matching outfits - those weird stirrup pants and oversized multi colored t-shirts. They let Jake squeeze in between them and Billy enjoys the lack of sibling rivalry and bickering that he’s sure will surface in a few years. He can handle it as long as it doesn’t turn out to be like he and Max were for those awful years. It would break his heart to see them like that, not to mention Steve.

oOo

The four of them are finishing up an early dinner of sandwiches and salad when the rain begins to taper off. 

“Can Kayla spend the night?” Jo’s got a small glob of mayonnaise at the corner of her mouth when she asks them, all innocent like the thought just popped into her head and the girls hadn’t been whispering about it before dinner.

Steve gives her an unimpressed look. “No one’s doing anything until you wipe your mouth like a human child and not a farm animal. You’ve got mayonnaise all over you.”

Instead of using her napkin, Jo uses her tongue to trace the corner of her mouth, but, of course, she’s got the wrong side. Billy looks down at his plate to hide his smile when Steve sends her a terse “Joanna”. When he looks back up, Jo has wiped her mouth and both she and Kayla are smiling at them like two little angels. Billy knows better but he’s also weak. 

So after a quick glance at Steve, Billy shrugs a shoulder. “Just make sure you call your parents.” He knows Tyson and Mariah won’t mind, but each set of parentals always keeps the other informed of the children’s movements. 

The girls grin at each other like they’ve just successfully executed their plan before Kayla hops out of her chair to phone home, her beads tinkling with her every move.

“This will be so much fun,” Jo gushes, as if sleepovers between the two of them aren’t regular occurrences. Billy manages not to roll his eyes but Steve doesn’t. “Maybe we can even go get some ice cream since it stopped raining.” She smiles sweetly at Billy because she knows, even at the age of six, that he is a pathetic sucker for her.

Jake lets out an excited little sound. “Ice cream, Daddy?” His eyes are as big as saucers when he looks up at Steve in surprised delight.

Steve rolls his eyes to the ceiling at Jo for getting Jake all worked up. Billy starts gathering up all the dishes because he already knows how this will go. Steve likes to pretend that he’s the stern parent, since he says that Billy has the disciplinary skills of a wet towel, but it really isn’t as if he is much better. He was always a pushover with his ducklings and he’s no different with their biological children. And, honestly, Jo might be a scheming little punk, but she’s a good kid and Jake is an absolute sweetheart. When Billy is being kind to himself, he can admit that, despite his early misgivings about becoming a parent, they’re doing a pretty alright job. 

“If we go out of for ice cream then no one is getting cupcakes. It’s one or the other,” Steve reasons.

There’s a beat of silence and then, “Cupcakes? I didn’t know there were cupcakes.” His girl is starting to sound a little too much like Henderson, so Billy makes a mental note to cut down on the amount of time his daughter spends on the phone with Uncle Dustin.

“Oh, uh,” Steve hedges and Billy snorts in laughter. He doesn’t have to turn from his place at the sink to know that Steve is staring daggers at his back or that it’s Jake who’s clapping, overjoyed at the thought of both ice cream and cupcakes. 

Kayla returns at that moment. “Mom said it’s fine.” She high-fives Jo before turning to Billy. “Mr. Billy, she told me to tell you that my dad hit a shopping cart and scratched his paint again. She said they’ll be in to see you next week.”

Billy chuckles to himself, shaking his head. Tyson Greene is probably the worst driver he has ever encountered, and having been the one to teach Will and El to drive, that is really saying something. The only positive to Tyson being a menace to all of his vehicles is that it means more business for Billy every time he goes toe-to-toe with a mailbox or trashcan and loses.

Jo, ever persistent, interjects. “Kay, we were talking about getting ice cream.” Her voice drops to a conspiratorial whisper. “And my dad made cupcakes.”

Kayla’s eyes widen comically. “Whoa, ice cream and cupcakes, Mr. Steve? You’re the best!”

Steve heaves a long-suffering sigh. “Go put your shoes on, you little brats.”

Jo grins from ear to ear. She and Kayla exchange another enthusiastic high-five. “Booyah!” She shouts as they run off to grab their shoes. Jake giggles and chases after them, eager to follow after the older kids.

“Don’t say a word,” Steve warns.

Smirking, Billy holds his hands out in surrender. Anyone could see he’d been hustled by a band of tiny hooligans, there’s no point in rubbing it in. “I wouldn’t dream of it, gorgeous.” The faint tinge of pink in Steve’s cheeks makes him want to swoop in for another lingering kiss, but he manages to control himself. Jo and Kayla are always so dramatic when they catch them kissing. Billy doesn’t need another performance on his hands.

The quirk of Steve’s lips says that he knows exactly what Billy is thinking.

oOo

They pile the kids into the Dadmobile and Billy isn’t even at the end of their block before he thinks about completely bailing while the car is in motion. Things are going fine until Steve changes radio stations and “MMMBop” starts blaring from the speakers. The effect is instantaneous. The girls let out unnaturally piercing squeals and the rest will go down as the most unsettling car ride of Billy’s life to date.

The girls are singing, Jake is singing, even Steve is singing. Steve is looking straight at Billy’s tense profile when he does it because he knows that they’re all killing him. Killing him. Billy’s fingers flex on the steering wheel when the chorus comes on and his eyes twitch. Torture. Utter Torture. He’s going to have to sit in his truck and blast Van Halen or Metallica for a solid four hours to rid his brain of the grating song.

They are still a few blocks away from Pat’s Ice Cream and Billy is wondering if Hawkins’ Finest will really give him a speeding ticket if he thoroughly explains the situation. He bets Hopper would understand; he’d had to deal with El and Max, after all. Billy can’t be held accountable for his actions. He’s watching his children be corrupted by terrible music right before his eyes. It would send even the stoutest of personalities into a frenzy. Steve he has no hope for; Steve has always had questionable taste in music. Actually, he blames Steve for this whole thing. Yeah, it’s definitely Steve’s fault because Billy has done everything he can to make sure his kids grow up with an appropriate appreciation for fine music. He’d even started early, playing only the best through the headphones he would place on Steve’s belly while the kids were baking. And look at them now, singing their hearts out to Hanson. A real American tragedy.

Steve’s long fingers reach over to give him a gentle pat on the thigh, grin clearly wide and amused even in Billy’s periphery. Nope, not funny. Not cute. Not endearing.

The gravel lot beside the ice cream stand is almost full but Billy doesn’t hesitate to pull into a tight spot he’d normally bypass. He shuts off the engine and quickly opens his door, bringing blissful quiet to the interior of the vehicle. He breathes a sigh of relief that sends Steve into a full laughing fit that Billy completely resents. Surprisingly, the kids aren’t too broken up about their dreadful concert being cut short, much too excited about ice cream and the various other Hawkins children already running around the nearby picnic tables.

The four of them take their place in line, and Steve begins the arduous process of helping Jake pick out a flavor. Kayla and Jo start an argument over whether Peanut Butter Banana Bliss or Oreo Cookie Craving is the better option. Obviously, the latter, but Billy isn’t about to go against his girl so he keeps his mouth shut. He probably wouldn’t be able to get a word in between all the “whatevers” flying back and forth, anyway.

They get the kids situated at a long table with their selections and settle into their own spots at the other end. Billy stares across at Steve happily licking away at his toffee nut cone and definitely does not have any obscene thoughts, much. Billy didn’t get anything for himself, opting to wait for a cupcake or two. He still has too much street cred to allow himself to develop a Dad Bod, so he tries to keep an eye on what he eats, especially with Stevie Crocker always in the kitchen whipping up some sort of dessert.

Steve has just started making eyes at him when Jo startles them all with a delighted shout. “Grandpa! Grandma!” 

Twisting to look over his shoulder, Billy catches sight of Joyce waving frantically and Hopper ambling over with his usual unhurried gait. He’s out of uniform and dressed for summer in one of his embarrassing patterned button down shirts and jeans. Jo throws her arms around Hopper’s steadily-expanding middle and Joyce scoops Jake into her arms, pressing kisses to his cheeks, unfazed by the smears of ice cream he’s left there.

“Hi, Miss Joyce. Hi, Mr. Chief,” Kayla chirps from her spot at the table, still munching away on her bowl of Oreo Cookie Craving.

“How do you do, Lady Kayla,” Hop asks with an exaggerated bow that sends the kids into giggles.

Joyce drops a kiss to the tops of Billy and Steve’s heads and takes a seat at the table while Hopper goes up to the counter, completely abusing his status by cutting in front of a bunch of disgruntled teenagers. Jake wiggles out of Joyce’s grasp to return to his abandoned ice cream. The three adults spend a few minutes shooting the shit until Hop returns with two heaping cones. By then the kids have grown bored with them and have scampered off to join the other little hellraisers running around the area.

He lets the other man enjoy his treat in peace for two solid minutes before he decides to be a little shit, just becomes he knows he can. He will never understand why but the chief has a soft spot for him a mile wide. “You know, those horizontal stripes are doing nothing for your amazing figure, old man,” he quips conversationally while eyeing the shirt with disdain.

Steve and Joyce tsk almost simultaneously, but Hopper just grunts from behind his cone. “Keep talking, punk. We’ll see what you look like when JJ starts high school. It won’t be the same, I can promise you that.” He takes a huge bite of his cone before the ice cream is gone, because he’s a maniac.

Billy cackles in delight. “I could be a gray old fart like you and I’d still be the most beautiful thing this town has ever seen. Just ask Karen Wheeler.” Joyce reaches over to knock him upside his head and he knows it’s for the remark about Karen. Even though she and Hopper are the exact same age, she never gets offended when he gives Hopper hell about his advancing years. Hopper just grunts again, and somehow Billy is able to detect that part of it was in lazy annoyance at Billy and the rest in approval of Joyce’s violent actions.

“Will you behave,” Steve admonishes. “You’re worse than the kids.” But there’s fondness in his expression and tone. His gaze shifts to something behind Billy’s shoulder, but his expression doesn’t change. “Uh-oh, here comes trouble.”

The kids are traipsing back over to their table, Jo leading the way and Kayla giving a teary-eyed Jake a piggyback ride.

“Jacob is injured,” Jo announces, with her usual flair for the dramatics. God, his kid is something else. Although his eyes are still a little wet, Jake isn’t crying so none of the adults get too worked up about whatever happened to him.

Kayla gets close to Billy and turns to dump his son into his lap. “Hey!” Jake complains and wiggles his little body until he’s established a more dignified position. He glares over at Jo and Kayla in what he probably thinks is a severe look but is actually the most adorable pout Billy has personally ever seen. 

“Hey, I know what will make Jake feel better,” Jo exclaims, like she just got her 13th brilliant idea of the day. Billy groans. Jo with an idea is the scariest part of waking up. “I bet Daddy’s cupcakes will make him good as new.”

Billy and Steve fix her with matching unimpressed looks. 

But Hopper perks right up. “Cupcakes? What cupcakes?”

End.

**Author's Note:**

> I was DETERMINED to make this cute and airy so I had to keep Billy and his musing on a real short leash here.
> 
> Anyway, you've now been introduced to Jake Harrington-Hargrove. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed.


End file.
